A New Private Balloon Pilot and A New Commercial Pilot In Our Community

It’s been a big weekend in our community. A balloon examiner (thanks Adam) was in town and we added a new female private pilot Taylor Pigg to the ranks and saw David Litton take a leap forward receiving his commercial license. I’m so proud of both of them, though not a bit surprised with their success.

Yes, you not only have to get licensed to fly a balloon, but then you have to go to a whole new level to fly paying (commercial) passengers. It doesn’t end there. Pilots have to have flight reviews annually with other pilots and if they haven’t been flying need to get flights in themselves (or with other pilots) before they can fly passengers. The education never ends. Most also attend a safety seminar annually, to make sure they never get complacent with their knowledge.

Here are a few pictures and videos.

My friend Drew took me for a ride on Friday morning and I got a quick video of him making a practice throw. He’s a great competitor and I love watching him in action.

I’m also including a video of the launch of two of my friends, Daniel and Marc, just because I was chasing them during Dave’s flight Friday night.

And is everyone else enjoying those Sahara Dust sunsets? I had to include a few puctures of those. Both of these were the same night, different views.